5G Tablet Shipment Sees 170 Pc Growth In India As Next-Gen Network Rollout Gains Speed

The India 5G tablet shipments grew 170 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and Lenovo led the market with a 29 per cent market share in the full year 2022, a report said on Tuesday. The overall India tablet market registered a 6 per cent YoY growth.

“Driven by a strong consumer appetite to future-proof themselves, and with 5G networks rolling out, the shipments of 5G tablets continued to gain strength through 2022,” said Menka Kumari, analyst-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR.

Lenovo, Apple (23 per cent market share) and Samsung (22 per cent) captured the top three spots in the tablet market.

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Shipment of tablets with above 10-inch display constituted 63 per cent of the overall shipments in the Indian market, according to the report.

Premium tablets (Rs 20,000 and above) grew 24 per cent during 2022.

Lenovo Tab M8 (HD) (Wi-Fi+4G) and Lenovo Tab M8 (HD) (WiFi) series had a 21 per cent and 12 per cent market share, respectively.

Apple iPad shipments recorded 17 per cent YoY growth in 2022.

Apple iPad 9 (Wi-Fi) and Apple iPad Air 2022 (Wi-Fi) had a 45 per cent and 17 per cent market share, respectively.

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Samsung shipments recorded 29 per cent YoY owing to the launch of A8 series, S8 series and S6 series with aggressive features.

“With supply chain constraints easing out, and consumers spending more time on-the-go, tablets will continue to find favour. Enterprise tablet demand will continue to hold, especially in healthcare, education and manufacturing,” said Kumari.

Meanwhile, industry body COAI made an aggressive pitch for setting aside mid-band 6GHz spectrum for mobile operators, saying it is critical for proliferation of 5G services, and that delicensing it to a “use for all” will hit the quality and cost of the next-generation services.

Radiowaves in 6GHz is a sweetspot for telecom service providers as the current spectrum in the mid band is “woefully short of requirement of telcos”. Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) cautioned that 5G deployments, speeds and affordability of services will “suffer greatly” if 6GHz spectrum is not allocated to mobile services in India.

(With inputs from IANS)